Defining High-Tech Jobs: A Response to Cyberstates

Every year, the American Electronics Association (AEA) releases a set of
rankings (Cyberstates) that attempt to rate the high-tech nature of each state
through change in the number of jobs, exports, R& D funding, etc. This
article focuses on the jobs that are included and excluded in their definition
of high-tech. Essentially, AEA's high-tech jobs definition is restricted to
the electronics industry - but this is misleading. Among just a few of the
technology sectors not included in the AEA definition, but which are included
in other reports and studies from creditable non-profit and government organizations,
are:

Industrial Inorganic Chemicals

Drugs (pharmaceuticals)

Industrial Organic Chemicals

Agricultural Chemicals

Engines & Turbines

Motor Vehicles & Equipment

Aircraft & Parts

Guided Missiles, Space Vehicles & Parts

Medical & Dental Laboratories

Engineering & Architectural Services

Research & Testing Services

Considering the industry mix in Indiana that includes all of the sectors
above, the AEA rankings can distort the high-tech jobs picture for Indiana.
One of the more glaring examples is the omission of a cutting-edge company,
Eli Lilly (which is in the process of adding 7,500 knowledge-based jobs to
Indiana) or the Warsaw Cluster, considered the "Orthopedics Capital of the
World."

If we are to accept AEA's definition of high-tech, there is yet another
important statistic in that report: Indiana's loss in these electronics jobs
came almost entirely between 1994 and 1998. According to this study, Indiana
generated 1,500 high-tech jobs between 1999 and 2000. Some of the job losses
Indiana has sustained are being overcome by technology jobs at companies such
as Virtual Financial Services, Powerway, RealMed, Interactive Intelligence,
and Aprimo.

Last year, when the 2000 rankings from AEA came out, the Indiana Department
of Commerce took an in-depth look at studies by a consulting group (RFA),
an information provider (One Source) and a research group (Bureau of Labor
Statistics). Bottom line: depending on whose statistics and categories you
use, the result is drastically different (see Table 1).

Click on table to view printable, zoomable PDF.

According to the AEA, Indiana lost almost 7,000 high-tech jobs between
1989 and 1999.

According to RFA, we gained more than 6,300.

One Source found that Indiana gained nearly 48,000 high-tech jobs over
that time span.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics showed Indiana gaining just over 40,000
high-tech jobs.

These studies were more inclusive in their definition of high-tech. What
is needed is an agreed upon definition of high technology, not what a trade
association wants it to be. The AEA study shows us what is happening in a
given state's electronics sector, but it is simply not accurate to equate
that to a state's high-tech economy.